Bridge the gap with the February NSD challenge

kerri_gt

Morning - haven't had time to catch up on yesterday's posts as (as rare as hen's teeth) I was out yesterday evening with some friends from work for dinner. Had a lovely evening - haven't laughed so much in ages. Spend was £20, as well as £1.39 in the day so that elusive #1 is still evading me, won't be one today either as I need petrol tonight....fingers crossed for tomorrow...

SuziQ1962

Morning all-going for NSD 2 as at home and not going near a shop!

njo86

NSD 1 down yesterday, hoping for number 2 today! :money:

martafdz

Here again! TARGET: 10 NSD, achieved so far: none. I will keep trying!

LittleMissHappy_2

Hi gang :wave:

Finally I have got NSD 1 today The only time I am going out is to pick up littlies from school and to walk the dog, neither of which requires my purse to be on me
Am spending the day madly cleaning and doing some running.....

Hope everyone has a lovely day - it's beautiful outside, blue skys, daffodil leaves poking out the ground...you can almost touch spring :j

chris81418

Hello everyone!

Wow! This thread looks even more popular than it was last month! I'm having trouble keeping my with all the posts - so apologies if I miss anything ...

SF - hope you're feeling better today.
A big hello and welcome to all the newbies!
BMF - hope your head isn't too sore today!

Anyway, I'm just checking to report that yesterday was NSD number 2 for me - woohoo! Keeping my fingers crossed that I'll clock up a few more in a row until I need to do a food shop either this weekend or early next week.

Enjoy the sunshine everyone! And good luck collecting more NSDs!

jaffacakegal

solventsoon wrote: »

jaffacakegal - hope you managed no 2 today

Hi,

Yeay! Was indeed NSD #2 yesterday! No way today, works Christmas meal tonight, so car having a well deserved rest at home and will have to fork out as-yet-unknown amount on public transport (and possibly a few drinks )!

JCG x

IF

Hi lovely NSD gang:A
As you can see there is lots of activity on this thread at the moment and it's difficult sometimes to see how many NSDs you're all declaring on posts.

Could I ask you to highlight your number of NSDs in a colour and in bold so that I can see them easily when I whizz through the posts - red would be best but I don't really mind as long as I can see the numbers easily.

Thanks everyone:A
spoon xx


Some helpful suggestions and ideas to follow below from our sponsor and godmother, BigMummaF :A

NO SPEND CHALLENGE.

1. Have a good, long think about what YOU want to include in your Spend & Excluded categories.
Some of us count everything from Direct Debits & school expenses, while others do not include things like essential Bills or emergency medical costs. If you plan what is or is not a Spend for you now, it will help you decide on a realistic Target.
2. It is NOT a race!
We all have very different demands on our time & bank balance, so please do not think you have to buy everything on 1st January & make it last till 31st December! A few of us have been following this Challenge for a long...long...LONG time so have developed plans & ploys to help us along the way
3. Most important of all, WE..DO..NOT..FAIL!
Sometimes we can't quite reach our Target, but that is fine Everyone knows how Life will try to trip us up, & that is when you will find us here to help you back on to your feet.

OK, an idea of how some of us do things.
1. What you will or will not include as a 'Spend'.
Some people are doing other Challenges too, & don't include the money spent on those for this one.
Some will try to shop for other bits on the days their direct debits etc go out of their bank accounts; they're the real hard core of the bunch & have been l-o-n-g time Nsders so don't panic
Some won't count those annoying last minute demands from school & collections as you can't plan for them in advance, likewise emergency prescriptions or visits to the vet
Personally speaking & providing I don't buy anything else, I don't count parking for hospital appointments.(..but then I usually do my shopping because I'm already out :whistle:)
General thoughts on €bay sales is the buyer has paid P&P so no cost to you
2. It takes Time to reach mega-numbers!
The First suggestion is the first, because a bit of planning will work wonders on your road to your Target. Have a look at Solvent's (aka Spoon:rotfl:) first posts each month for a hefty list of other Threads that may be of help. For example, there's a few giving ideas for packed lunches so you can avoid standing in the queue at the bakers for 45mins of your lunch hour! A good incentive to tweak your healthy eating & the pounds you save will show in your bank balance AND your waistline
It helps to have various 'money pots' for the different costs that happen like Scouts, dinner money, yoga, window cleaner etc etc. The idea is you "spend" all that money in one hit by..:think:..let's say **putting the week's bus fares into the pretty coffee jar, Jo's tumble tots SIZE=2]Weds mornings[/SIZE in the cracked teapot & Ben's £1 coin for the gym locker SIZE=2]Friday lunch[/SIZE in the pocket of the changing bag, on Tuesdays every week when you've got some change from doing the food shop, so an already spendy day. At least four 'spending days' condensed into one (**mine's jam jars for windows, milkman & a bit towards the bills!)
3. Any day the money stays in your pocket is a bonus!
If you look at it as a day you beat the system, you can't help but :j so don't fret it--ENJOY! If nothing else in here, we do manage find something to make us smile

We have virtual outings to wonderful places that never cost us a bean :rotfl:New York, Edinburgh & Brighton have been a couple & Spoon usually pilots the Tardis but you can use your own transport; my personal favourite has been a sit-on lawn mower borrowed from the cricket club The only thing to be aware of is Hubert the donkey who is partial to anything remotely edible but is not yet house-trained

And Remember;
there are no silly questions, so don't be afraid to ask us anything!

loveGSDs

hello all NSD nutters!!

will be a spend day for me, but a good one as im out for tea with friends tonight, might catch a nsd tomo, il try my best

xx

kerri_gt

Whooopppsss Just went into M*ns**n and bought a 1/2 price scarf that my mum was nagging me to buy when she called last night (must admit my current cream one is boggin ) and decided that since the elastic is fraying out of my gloves I'd get some matching finger warmers too. They had some lovely fingerless ones with the tops you flip over, some where £5 and there was one pair with Thinsulate that were £6, so I thought I'd splash out on the extra £1 for toasty digits.

Only when I got to the counter, and the woman exaplimed she'd never seen them in store before and they must have been a return from somewhere else (and said how lovely they were) did they then scan through at full price :eek: but I still got them for £6 as that was the price they were marked up at :j

Neither item was on my 'essential clothing list' but I did have some money left from returns at xmas and I think in this case a) they are not frivilous b) I got a good deal...so I'm not going to lose sleep with guilt

all aboard the NSD wagon for me tomorrow I think :A